A beautiful day at The Volek Barn and Vineyard in Beecher, Illinois spent getting ready with their bridal party, saying their personal and sentimental vows in front of their closest family and friends, and then finishing off the night with dinner, amazing speeches, tons of dancing, and enjoying their first night together as husband and wife—this was Sadie & Nathan’s special day.

When he fell in love with the bartender

Sadie told us about how she used to be a bartender at the Drunken Monkey, and Nathan was a bar regular that would come and see her just about every shift. She said, “I told myself before he started to be my regular that I would never date a customer. We started out as friends, and eventually (with some liquid courage and help from friends) it led me up to me asking Nathan out on a date.”

Sadie went on to say that she had a crush on Nathan for at least a year into their friendship, and she knew he liked her back. That being said, they both didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship at the time. Sadie said, “I thought to myself, ‘life is too short, so I’m going for it.'” Even though she described Nathan as being shy, he finally asked her to be his girlfriend in April of 2016.

The story goes that they were inseparable ever since. Hanging out every day, doing errands together, going out to eat all the time, and even joined a dart league together. They said that it’s funny how their relationship even started because they would describe themselves quite opposites. However, there’s one thing that Sadie knew they had in common, and that was being crazy about each other.

Together they accomplished so many things

They both spoke many times about how (like most relationships) they had a lot of testing the waters, and there were plenty of times where they had disagreements over the years. According to Sadie, Nathan is, and was, the most patient, loving man she’s ever met. As the years went on they grew with each other and learned new things together, and about each other. They said, “We accomplished so many things, we bought our first home together in 2019, getting our dream vehicles, both landing very good jobs, and even made a big decision together by agreeing to take in Sadie’s little brother Ryne.”

Little did Sadie know that Nathan and Ryne bonded rather quickly because they were able to keep a special secret from her. They shared about THE RING and kept it from Sadie for months. She hadn’t had a clue! All she knew was that her and Nathan would talk about getting married someday, and she wanted the proposal to be special.

Special it was. Said told us, “Me and Nathan have this thing that when we come back from somewhere (either a party, dinners, or from a gathering.) we sit in the car in front of the house with a little bit of music and recap about what our favorite parts of the day/night was. Well this particular night (September 6th) we got back from a friends birthday party. We were talking about the night and then I told him that there was a song that reminded me of him. He said ‘wait, hold that thought! I’m going get a beer real quick.’ I patiently waited, trying to figure out how to shut my headlights off. Nathan came back and said he’s going to help me shut them off. He opened my door, shut the car lights off, and told me to turn the song on. As soon as I turned around from the radio, he was on one knee. I instantly started bawling (of course) because I couldn’t believe it was finally happening! I couldn’t tell you exactly what he said because I was so filled with joy and tears. I couldn’t hear after he said ‘Sadie Marie Benca.’ Finally, he said ‘So are you going to give me an answer?'” And you know she said “OF COURSE!!”

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Stanula!

Sadie & Nathan, we are so glad that you entrusted LVP Studios to capture your wedding day with video. It was such a beautiful wedding day, and we are so very thankful that we got to be a part of memorializing your love for one another. We truly enjoyed being your wedding videographer. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Stanula! We hope you love this highlight film from your wedding.